Chapter 33
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This time when Xie Min returned to the little bunny’s body, he noticed something strange about Sui Yang. However, Sui Yang acted natural, so Xie Min decided to be cautious without asking too many questions.
The next day, when he woke up, Xie Min felt a bit anxious. Sui Yang asked him if he wanted to visit his new subsidiary. Xie Min agreed, and Sui Yang put him in his pocket, and they set off.
During the days when Xie Min worked while sick, he had heard that Nanyuan Holdings had acquired an elevator manufacturing company in Yuhai. Xie Min’s company focused on real estate, different from Sui Yang’s field, so he didn’t know much about it.
After getting in the car, Sui Yang took Xie Min out of his pocket and held him in his hand. Xie Min looked up and saw the outlines of tall buildings outside the car window. It was challenging for him to recognize the route to Sui Yang’s new company.
The company’s factory area was constructed on the outskirts more than ten years ago. It had a large area with abundant vegetation, and two experimental towers stood tall at the foot of the mountain.
Xie Min rarely visited this area, but it felt somewhat familiar. After a while, he remembered the nearby abandoned building where Sui Yang’s father had seemingly jumped.
Since it was winter, the trees in the factory had only bare branches. Xie Min huddled in Sui Yang’s hand and, before being placed in his pocket, thought that if it were summer, this place would be filled with lush greenery, a perfect place to escape from the world.
Sui Yang briefly greeted his secretary and the company’s managers, took a quick tour of the production workshop, and then went to the office to handle business matters.
Perhaps because he had recently taken over the company, there was constant movement in and out of Sui Yang’s office, leaving hardly any free moments. Nevertheless, he took out Xie Min and casually placed him next to the computer. Xie Min was small, so not many people paid attention to him. Occasionally, one or two people glanced at Xie Min but quickly looked away.
In the afternoon, after instructing his secretary, Sui Yang closed the door and made a phone call to Master Yi.
He positioned Xie Min where he could see the phone screen and made a video call. Master Yi appeared on the screen wearing a Daoist robe, calmly stroking his beard, and gave a faint smile. “Mr. Sui.”
Following Xie Min’s request, Sui Yang briefly explained his situation, mixing some truth with deception. He informed Master Yi that his friend, who had recently regained consciousness after a difficult ordeal, had faced another unfortunate incident and remained unconscious after undergoing gastric lavage. However, his friend’s company had urgent matters and couldn’t function without him, so he wanted to ask Master Yi if there was a way to forcefully bring his soul back into his body.
Despite Sui Yang’s straightforward and serious tone, Xie Min couldn’t help but find it somewhat ridiculous. After all, before becoming a toy bunny, Xie Min had always been a skeptic and never believed in supernatural phenomena.
After hearing the situation, Master Yi contemplated for a moment and informed Sui Yang, “There is a method, but the ritual is quite complex. I need to make some preparations. Mr. Sui is an important client to me. If I can gather everything in time tonight, I will expedite the ritual for you so that your friend can wake up tomorrow. However, if he returns to his body against the natural order, he will undoubtedly experience considerable pain…” The master sighed.
Upon hearing the words “against the natural order,” Xie Min felt a slight stir in his heart. Sui Yang appeared to be silently contemplating.
After Master Yi mentioned that he needed to gather some things and informed Sui Yang of the price, he hung up the phone.
Sui Yang picked up his phone, seemingly about to transfer the ritual fees to Master Yi. Xie Min chimed in, “I’ll give you the money when the time comes.”
“No need,” Sui Yang reached out and held Xie Min’s hind paw, looking at him for a few seconds before saying, “Will you feel more uncomfortable than the car accident?”
“I don’t think so,” Xie Min speculated, “I only had my stomach pumped, right?” He recalled, “When I woke up after the car accident, I couldn’t even move.”
He observed Sui Yang’s expression and said, “But earlier, the master mentioned ‘against the natural order.’ I wonder what that means. I couldn’t ask since I can’t speak. Did you understand?”
Sui Yang glanced at Xie Min, seemingly thinking for a moment, and honestly replied, “I’m not sure.”
His demeanor was impeccable, and Xie Min couldn’t tell whether he actually knew or not. He could only bury his questions deep within his heart.
Sui Yang’s main business was still in Yuanguang, but perhaps to quickly handle matters at the new company, he stayed at the office until late. The wind picked up in Yuhai at night. Xie Min crouched by the window, gazing into the darkness as the trees on the mountain swayed, resembling dark waves rippling in mid-air.
In reality, during his winter break in his third year of college, he encountered his drunken father returning home late at night and criticizing him harshly. He once took a taxi to this area.
That day, the mountain had a similar appearance.
At that time, Xie Min had actually stopped thinking much about Sui Yang and had immersed himself in his new life, taking numerous classes and making many friends, filling his time and surrounding space completely.
It was only in the middle of the night, standing in the muddy ground of the dilapidated building where Sui Yang had once kissed him, that he felt lost and wondered if he should still have bought a cake for Sui Yang and come here to find him if he could go back to being eighteen.
Xie Min didn’t want to go home. He wandered around the desolate outskirts, feeling restless and powerless.
Sui Yang had been apart from him for seven or eight hundred days, and during this time, he lived a fulfilling life. While trying to prevent himself from thinking about Sui Yang, he secretly searched for traces of Sui Yang in every person, coming to the places where they had memories when feeling uneasy.
At twenty-one, in the darkness, Xie Min felt that Sui Yang was like a spell, a curse accompanying his life, an unsolved mystery, a false redemption, a saint and a deceiver who placed emotions at the end of life.
Fortunately, the difference now was that Xie Min had matured a lot compared to before.
Finally, Sui Yang finished his work and raised his hand, palm facing upward, in front of Xie Min.
“What for?” Xie Min asked him.
“To see if you can jump on it,” Sui Yang smiled and said, “It’s a test of pet trust.”
Xie Min reluctantly got used to Sui Yang’s nonsense and gave him a gentle kick, but Sui Yang’s hand remained in place. Xie Min wasn’t so childish as to compete or waste time with him. He jumped twice and landed on Sui Yang’s hand.
“There aren’t many people at night,” Sui Yang said, “So I won’t put you in my pocket.”
He had already sent his secretary back earlier and asked the driver to stay with the car.
Placing Xie Min in the passenger seat, Sui Yang drove away on his own.
The outskirts were quiet at night, and Xie Min saw numerous stars. They drove from the factory road onto the highway. Suddenly, Sui Yang said, “I’ll come to see you tomorrow morning.”
Xie Min murmured, “Okay,” and Sui Yang paused for a few seconds, then said to Xie Min, “Xie Min, I’m thinking, after you wake up, do you want to live with me for a while?”
“What?” Xie Min turned his head and glanced at him.
Sui Yang was a tall giant to Xie Min. Even the gear lever in the car looked like a round-headed flagpole in Xie Min’s eyes.
Xie Min could only see Sui Yang’s chin and his hand on the steering wheel. He noticed the veins on the back of Sui Yang’s hand and felt that Sui Yang held the steering wheel as if he exerted more force than others.
“I feel like you’re not safe,” Sui Yang calmly said. “Are you confident in yourself?”
“Not really,” Xie Min honestly replied, “I haven’t thought much about it.”
“Living with you doesn’t seem necessary. It would be too much trouble for you,” Xie Min said. “I can stay with Xiao Chi.”
“It’s better to live with someone who has no vested interest. I won’t find it troublesome,” Sui Yang said. “At least you can trust me, right?”
“I’m not very confident about you being alone,” he explained without looking at Xie Min, lost in his own thoughts.
Xie Min could have said, “What’s there to worry about?” But he had indeed encountered quite a few incidents recently, so he didn’t have much confidence in saying that.
“It’s a bit troublesome for you,” Xie Min still wanted to politely decline.
Sui Yang quickly replied, “It won’t be.”
“Why?” Xie Min knew that this question could easily lead to an awkward situation, but he still asked.
“Can’t I care about you?” Sui Yang said.
Xie Min now accepted Sui Yang’s kindness, realizing that it might not be entirely inappropriate. Sui Yang was genuinely good to him, with a tender affection that wasn’t too ambiguous. Xie Min thought he could probably guess the reasons why Sui Yang took care of him. It was likely due to concern for their past relationship, social etiquette, or an unnecessary sense of responsibility toward an ex-boyfriend. It wasn’t necessary to delve too deeply into it.
But Xie Min had a stubborn and bad-tempered personality. He knew that his habit of digging for answers wasn’t good, and he had mostly changed that behavior. However, today he had reverted back to his old self, unwilling to give face and lacking emotional intelligence.
Without much consideration, he said to Sui Yang, “Are you trying to make it up to me?”
Sui Yang said, “I don’t know.”
“If it’s about making it up to me, then I don’t need it.” Xie Min no longer looked at him, pushing the seatbelt with his front paw, watching the black strap lightly move. “I’m twenty-nine years old and capable of taking care of myself. I’m not a child.”
“Then it’s not about making it up to you,” Sui Yang didn’t show any emotional reaction to his direct rejection and spoke softly. “I said I’m just worried, and you’re not satisfied.”
The atmosphere was strange, but not as strange as Xie Min had anticipated.
Over the past month or so, Xie Min had been staying with Sui Yang, and the memories of the old Sui Yang merged with the present, often giving him a sense of temporal confusion.
Sui Yang had similarities and differences compared to before. Xie Min was familiar with his personality, appearance, and way of speaking, but their interaction had changed somewhat. Sui Yang maintained a certain distance, with less ambiguity and more measured care, after all, their relationship was different.
“You can stay with me until the police investigation results come out,” Sui Yang continued, refusing to give up until he reached his goal. “Okay?”
“But you’re mostly in Yuanguang.” Xie Min still didn’t agree, but he relaxed his stance slightly because Sui Yang was genuinely sincere.
“I can frequently come to Yuhai and bring my bodyguards and nanny from Yuanguang to assist you,” Sui Yang immediately added, as if he had thought it through.
Xie Min wanted to say, “It’s too much trouble,” but couldn’t bring himself to say it. Sui Yang added, “It’s not troublesome. You don’t need to worry about these things.”
It’s strange to say, but in these past ten years, Xie Min had encountered many people. There were some acquaintances from school, friends he still kept in touch with, and business partners who had shown goodwill and made big promises. However, none of them could make him feel as defenseless as Sui Yang did.
Even during their breakup, Sui Yang bought medicine for him, helped treat his scraped knee, bought him soda, and urged him to go home. Even though they had long since parted ways, and Sui Yang had dumped him, Xie Min had once hated Sui Yang like a protagonist hating their archenemy in a TV drama. But now, he had found a safe space near Sui Yang because Sui Yang still showed tolerance, care, and concern for him.
While Xie Min was still contemplating, Sui Yang reached out and tugged his ear. “If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you agreeing.” Xie Min remained silent, allowing Sui Yang to interpret it as an agreement.
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